The Daily Populous Monday June 2nd, 2025 evening edition
Authored by rferl.org and submitted by eaglemaxie

For more than three years, most of Russia has viewed the war sparked by the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine from afar.

Now, some say, following an audacious attack by Ukraine that saw hordes of drones smuggled into Russia and then deployed on June 1 to wipe out dozens of long-range bombers, it has arrived on their doorstep.

In the Irkutsk, Murmansk, Ryazan, and Ivanovo regions, drones struck air bases, shocking Russian authorities and citizens.

"It was a fiery hell," residents of the Irkutsk region told RFE/RL's Siberia Realities.

In Siberia, some 4,000 km away, residents appeared to be shaken.

"Now the war has reached us too," residents told Siberia Realities.

Ukraine's Secret Service (SBU) said dozens of long-range bomber aircraft across Russia were attacked with drones that were smuggled in wooden shipping crates carried on truck beds into the country and then launched from nearby locations.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attacks the "absolutely brilliant outcome" of an operation that had taken more than a year and half to prepare.

According to eyewitnesses, the drones flew out of a truck that stopped on the R-255 "Siberia" highway. That information was confirmed by regional Governor Igor Kobzev, who noted that this was the first drone attack in Siberia.

At the Belaya military base in the village of Sredniy in the Irkutsk Region, a drone attack destroyed at least one transport aircraft, according to one eyewitness, who said the attack lasted at least an hour and a half.

"I watched the whole nightmare through binoculars -- it was a truly terrifying sight," the witness, a man who identified himself as Roman, told RFE/RL.

"First we heard a bang and saw a huge column of smoke. At first, I thought that another plane had crashed -- two months ago a bomber fell from this airfield.

"Then I definitely saw four strong explosions. Because after each of them gray smoke started pouring out...And when they hit the transport plane, the entire airfield seemed to be on fire," he said.

Added another eyewitness from the town of Buret, near the airfield: "Our house shook several times from the blast wave."

The June 1 attack is seen as another major embarrassment for Russia's military and intelligence agencies as Ukraine appears to be waging a covert, low-level campaign inside Russia for months.

Kyiv doesn't usually admit to such attacks -- which use drones and possibly special forces to strike things such as fuel depots and pipelines and are largely targeted at areas closer to the Ukraine-Russia border.

Reports of the June 1 drone attacks came hours after two incidents damaged railway infrastructure in western Russia that killed at least 8 people.

It was not immediately clear whether the two incidents, which occurred late on May 31 in Bryansk and early on June 1 in Kursk, were connected. The national Investigative Committee blamed "illegal interference" without giving further details.

In Irkutsk, Kobzev called for calm among the region's residents, but some said they had had enough of the war.

"The war is in its fourth year, what will happen in the fifth year? You don't know how to fight, make peace, don't disgrace yourself," a woman who identified herself as Marina said.

Others also began to question the ability of the authorities to keep them safe amid fears that if a truck could be driven this far into the country and then used in an operation, this may not be the last attack.

"How? How is this possible? How did they let these trucks through? There are so many questions," asked a woman who called herself Svetlana.

In the Murmansk region, Governor Andrei Chibis confirmed an attack by drones that also were launched out of a truck parked near the town of Olenegorsk.

Eyewitnesses from the area told Siberia Realities that they observed at least 10 explosions at the air base.

"The war has started in Olenegorsk. Smoke from explosions is billowing behind the forest," one said, noting that it appeared the driver of the truck that may have contained the drones was arrested by police.

kutusow_ on June 2nd, 2025 at 11:53 UTC »

The arrogance that they have to say that Ukraine has no right to respond for everything they do is beyond any moral bounds. People in Ukraine experience this for 3 years. They get their cities bombed, civilians killed, tortured and raped. Now Ukraine destroys the eqipment they used to commit such crimes and they call it escalation. Not a single civilian was targeted. F*cking hypocrites. Sad to see such people even in the West. Immoral evil morons

joekerr9999 on June 2nd, 2025 at 11:15 UTC »

This was a brilliant stroke by the Ukrainians. The Russians have to be wondering now what else is in the works?

mileseverett on June 2nd, 2025 at 11:12 UTC »

From what I saw they only attacked military locations? This is very different from what Ukraine is experiencing